Forecast

Danbury night club to reinvent itself

Dirk Perrefort| on March 22, 2014

DANBURY -- Due to lackluster crowds, the Skyy Bar and Lounge that opened in the city's downtown less than six months ago is changing the way it operates.

Instead of opening as a night club on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, trying to attract area college and university students, the club will become a catering hall for more "mature" functions, according to Ian Bick, a local entrepreneur who started the business in October.

It will also host teen parties when the facility is available, Bick said.

The club was the first to open in the city's downtown after an entertainment license was put into place last year that again allowed such establishments in the city's center.

For years clubs were barred from the area after several clubs were closed due to unruly crowds and underage drinking.

"New changes coming soon," the club recently posted on its Facebook page. "Stay tuned for what's in store."

Bick said the Ives Street business, which was once the home of Tuxedo Junction, was just breaking even and failed to turn a profit in the five months since it opened, so he decided to change his business model.

He said he blames himself for the failure because he spent more time planning the business than marketing the club.

Bick said he recently took full control of Skyy Bar from his partners after the liquor license for the business expired in February.

"I may eventually look to get another license, but at this point we'll be doing teen nights," he said.

Bick said he will also use the facility as a catering hall that will appeal to an older crowd.

"The idea is to use the facility as more of a venue than a club," he said. "Our goal is to have it booked every weekend."

The entrepreneur said he also hopes to create some synergies between the Skyy Bar and Bick's Burgers, a business Bick also opened recently on Ives Street.

The gourmet burger shop, he said, is attracting people to the city's center "who have never been downtown before."

Tom Devine, chairman of CityCenter and the owner of Two Steps Downtown Grille on Ives Street, said he was happy to see Bick invest in the club and clean up the property when it first opened in October.

"We were hoping, and we still are, that he can succeed," Devine said. "While the club was open there weren't the kind of disturbances and noise issues as when it operated as Tuxedo's. That's the kind of clean operator we need on this block."

Mayor Mark Boughton said as long as the business conforms to the city's entertainment license, he doesn't envision any problems with a change in format.

"We want anyone trying to operate a business in the city to be successful," Boughton said. "If this is the business model he needs to be successful, as long as he maintains all the licensing requirements, then great."